PeteK, The building was originally a warehouse for a few different stove companies, lastly being the Lebanon Stove Works. the other foundry buildings are long gone. It just so happens that my bro. & I have been collecting Lebanon stoves for the last number of years. They're fairly hard to find. We didn't actually know that this was the warehouse until I started to do research on it. The building was then used by the Bon-Ton (which actually started in this area) as a warehouse from the 1920's through the late 1960's. They added the elevator (the silo-looking piece on the side of the building) in the 20's.
As far as the condo, I'd love to do that. unfortunately, PA passed the UCC codes (Uniform Construction Code) for buildings. The upper floors have no fire egresses (fire escapes). From what I understand from our realtor, the previous owner had quite a few folks looking at it to turn it into an apartment building, but the costs & regs were out-of-this-world. So, lucky for us, it sat vacant for the last 18 months, after the local food bank moved out.
So, to make a long story short, we feel it was some sort of divine intervention. we collect Lebanon iron, we needed a new place to go, the owner was more the ready to move the property, & we saved some local history.
